Porsche Dash cam

[Rbwalters]

Hi all,

I had my Taycan factory prewired for the dash cam, but it seems unless I go with the Porsche dash cam, that prewiring is useless. I'm wondering whether if I purchase a Porsche dash cam from Suncoast, for example, how difficult it might be to install it myself.

Seems like it might just be a matter of mounting it and plugging it in to the existing wiring.

I haven't decided whether to do that, and I'm considering going with the THINKWARE U3000 system, which runs about $1,000 installed. Any insight is appreciated.

Thanks!

Rob

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[DerekS]

I went with the Porsche OEM dashcam and paid around $1000 for the install, plus the part cost from Suncoast.

I did not have the prewiring.

Pluses:
- It says Porsche on it.

Minuses:
- It's large and unsightly.
- The default install position (in the TSB) puts it in your field of vision; I had them mount mine behind the rearview to hide it somewhat.
- You can't attach to it from the app unless:

- You turn off Carplay -or-​

- You pay for the in-car internet package, and point the camera to it​

- It has a tendency to scramble the files and lose its brain if you use a 256GB card. I recently lost footage I really wanted due to this, and I am currently trying a 64GB card to see if it behaves better.
- Sometimes it seems to lose GPS and I don't know why.
- If you change the SD card it loses its wifi settings, and you have to reset it to defaults and start over.

Honestly it really is not a great product.

 

[Rbwalters]

I went with the Porsche OEM dashcam and paid around $1000 for the install, plus the part cost from Suncoast.

I did not have the prewiring.

Pluses:
- It says Porsche on it.

Minuses:
- It's large and unsightly.
- The default install position (in the TSB) puts it in your field of vision; I had them mount mine behind the rearview to hide it somewhat.
- You can't attach to it from the app unless:

- You turn off Carplay -or-​

- You pay for the in-car internet package, and point the camera to it​

- It has a tendency to scramble the files and lose its brain if you use a 256GB card. I recently lost footage I really wanted due to this, and I am currently trying a 64GB card to see if it behaves better.
- Sometimes it seems to lose GPS and I don't know why.
- If you change the SD card it loses its wifi settings, and you have to reset it to defaults and start over.

Honestly it really is not a great product.

Thanks for this Derek.
The Car Play conflict is a deal breaker for me. It sounds like I just wasted $130 for the pre wire. Not huge but annoying.

 

[DerekS]

Thanks for this Derek.
The Car Play conflict is a deal breaker for me. It sounds like I just wasted $130 for the pre wire. Not huge but annoying.

It’s not that bad. I opted for the internet package to make it easy, but it wasn’t the worst to just turn off CarPlay when I wanted to connect to the camera.

The bigger problem are the various bugs I mentioned.

I just took a software update for it and changed to a smaller card so…we will see.

 

[ze_shark]

Fair to say that the best options are:
- Blackvue for premium performance ?
- FitcamX for budget & install convenience ?

Related threads:
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/fitcamx-dashcam-installation.7253/


BlackVue
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...e-battery-specific-questions-this-time.16031/

 

[Rbwalters]

Fair to say that the best options are:
- Blackvue for premium performance ?
- FitcamX for budget & install convenience ?

Related threads:
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/fitcamx-dashcam-installation.7253/


BlackVue
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...e-battery-specific-questions-this-time.16031/

Thank you. This is what I needed.

 

[whitex]

I had my Taycan factory prewired for the dash cam, but it seems unless I go with the Porsche dash cam, that prewiring is useless.

It's not useless. I use it for 2 channel blackvue (front and back recording) and a radar detector:
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...rd-party-dashcam-and-other-accessories.19743/

You could use it to power any other dashcams, though if the dashcam is dual channel, you want one which will match the impedance of the coax pre-wire going from the front windshield and back window.

 

[ze_shark]

Thank you. This is what I needed.

Please note the question marks, i did not want to present these as statements.
I am in the same proverbial boat as you, trying to figure out which option to go with to cover which use cases.

The price difference should be a strong indicator that BlackVue and FitcamX do not punch in the same league.

 

[Watchesandburgers]

+1 for FitcamX. The clean installation makes it 100% worth it. Disconnecting from CarPlay to connect to the camera is fine. Just turn off Bluetooth on my phone - it's easy. Alternatively, I bought a USB-C microSD card reader, so I can pop the card out of the camera and see video files directly. Much faster than Wifi.

 

[Rbwalters]

It's not useless. I use it for 2 channel blackvue (front and back recording) and a radar detector:
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...rd-party-dashcam-and-other-accessories.19743/

You could use it to power any other dashcams, though if the dashcam is dual channel, you want one which will match the impedance of the coax pre-wire going from the front windshield and back window.

Thanks for linking this. I found and read that thread. The question I have is, is there some value (advantage/disadvantage?) in using the Porsche pre-wiring v. having the installer run new wiring?

 

[Dan seventyfour]

I have installed the oem Porsche Dashcam.
Car was also pre-wired.
Works fine no problems with cards ect.
To connect and use the app you need to disconnect Apple CarPlay for the WiFi.
But it is kind of a gimmick what you hopefully don’t need. Price was indeed around €1000,-

 

[Rbwalters]

I have installed the oem Porsche Dashcam.
Car was also pre-wired.
Works fine no problems with cards ect.
To connect and use the app you need to disconnect Apple CarPlay for the WiFi.
But it is kind of a gimmick what you hopefully don’t need. Price was indeed around €1000,-

I see. So its not that you have to disconnect Car Play to use the dashcam itself, but only when you want to use the app for downloading or viewing recordings. Do I have that right?

 

[whitex]

Thanks for linking this. I found and read that thread. The question I have is, is there some value (advantage/disadvantage?) in using the Porsche pre-wiring v. having the installer run new wiring?

No need for new wiring (always have to be careful not to impede air-bags, etc - I've seen some great installer jobs, and some bad ones where they run the cable around an airbag), no need for adding additional fuses (already one dedicated to dashcam there). Also, easier to remove if you want to bring it back to factory state.

Then there is a speculation of mine, but I have no proof. The car comes with the dashcam fuse missing. I wonder whether or not the car monitors that voltage rail so that it knows that you have a 24/7 dashcam, therefore it can manage recharging of the 12V battery differently? Or perhaps it has a way to cut that power should that be necessary for battery preservation? Again, just things that would pop into my mind if I was designing the Taycan. If wiring in your own fuse+wires, might be worth adding a fuse in the dashcam prewire slot as a "just in case", maybe the car is monitoring the voltage rail and see is as ON to indicate you have a dashcam.

 

[whitex]

I see. So its not that you have to disconnect Car Play to use the dashcam itself, but only when you want to use the app for downloading or viewing recordings. Do I have that right?

... or configuring the dashcam, but yes.

 

[Dan seventyfour]

I see. So its not that you have to disconnect Car Play to use the dashcam itself, but only when you want to use the app for downloading or viewing recordings. Do I have that right?

That’s correct.

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